No, Amsterdam itself will not become a venture capitalist that will enter the taxi market. But through experiments, the council of PvdA, GroenLinks and D66 wants to attract more power to local entrepreneurs and employees and protect them against unfair competition.
According to councilor Sofyan Mbarki (Economic Affairs), the city must take steps against the excesses of the platform economy, which, according to him, is built on venture capital, often cheap labor and monopoly positions.
That is why the municipality will invest in a cooperative in which employees can set up their own taxi service. This is already happening in New York, where there are several taxi providers where drivers own the shares themselves. A much larger percentage of the fare therefore goes to the employees themselves.
Electric shared cargo bike
The municipality also wants to invest further in local delivery services, such as in Haarlemmerstraat, where entrepreneurs have already started delivery experiments with a shared electric cargo bike. In addition to supporting various initiatives, more legislation and regulations are needed from The Hague and Europe, Mbarki says.
The taxi and delivery plan is part of a broader package to stimulate the local economy in the coming years. The coalition agreement has allocated 23 million euros for this. “New economic policies must support entrepreneurs in the coming years in the transition to an inclusive, innovative and sustainable economy,” Mbarki writes. Keywords are broad prosperity and sustainable growth.
Four million euros will be allocated for, among other things, partnerships between entrepreneurs and the municipality, especially in Zuidoost, Nieuw-West and Noord. Money is also made available to help local entrepreneurs grow, for example by offering management training. Households in districts outside the Ring have a lower average income than within the Ring and labor participation is also lower, the municipality explains the investments there.
No red carpet for everyone
The starting point is to stimulate the green and sustainable economy in the city, according to the municipality. Mbarki wants the number of jobs in sustainable growth sectors to grow from 12,700 to 20,000 jobs by 2026 at the latest. He also aims for ten additional business associations. Two million euros is available to help companies with the energy transition.
The municipality has long believed that it should no longer lay out the red carpet for every international company that wants to come to Amsterdam, especially if such a company can be at the expense of local entrepreneurs. Once again, the council writes that it wants international companies that want to establish themselves in Amsterdam to ‘bind themselves to the city and region’. The municipality also wants to entice companies that contribute to the city’s sustainable ambitions to come to Amsterdam.
About the author: Tim Wagemakers has been studying Amsterdam politics for almost 10 years and has been writing for it since 2022 Het Parool as a political reporter.